Some of the widely used monitoring systems include multiple cameras set up in a monitored area and a monitor adapted to display a monitoring screen in which multiple display sections are arranged to display captured images taken by respective cameras so that a monitoring person can monitor the monitored area. In such a monitoring system, by storing the captured images taken by the cameras in a recorder, it is possible to enable the monitoring person to check, after an illicit act such as shoplifting was detected, what actions were performed in the monitored area by the person who committed the illicit act.
In a case where the monitoring person keeps track of a person while watching the multiple display sections in the screen as mentioned above, the monitoring person is required to determine the display section in which the person will appear (or be displayed) next from the direction of movement of the person being monitored, but if it took much time to determine the next display section, the monitoring person may lose sight of the person to be monitored. Therefore, a configuration to reduce the burden of the monitoring person and allow tracking of a person to be carried out smoothly is demanded.
With regard to such a demand, a technology is conventionally known in which based on information such as a direction of movement of a person being monitored, the camera that will next capture the image of the person is selected, and the display section displaying the captured image taken by this camera is displayed adjacent to the display section in which the person being monitored currently appears (refer to JP2005-012415A). A technology is also known in which a monitoring screen is displayed such that the monitoring screen includes a map image representing a monitored area, on which images representing cameras (camera marks) and display sections for displaying the captured images taken by the cameras are arranged (refer to JP2010-268186A).
The process of selecting the camera that will next capture the image of the person being monitored as in the technology disclosed in JP2005-012415A may be performed based on tracing information obtained by a tracing processing device which traces a moving object(s) detected from the captured images taken by the cameras. However, if the tracing information includes an error, the person being monitored may be lost from tracking. Thus, a configuration which, when an error is found in the tracing information during a process in which the monitoring person tracks a person while watching a screen, can allow the monitoring person to correct the tracing information without imposing a significant burden on the monitoring person is demanded.
With regard to such a demand, a technology is known in which a tracing device is configured to perform a tracing process using a point of interest set on a moving object and, if the tracing of the point of interest becomes difficult, change the point of interest in accordance with a correction instruction input by a user (monitoring person) to thereby continue the tracing process (refer to JP2007-272732A).